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Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program

Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program. Legislative Audit Bureau April 2005. Overview. Created to help participants achieve self-sufficiency through employment Started statewide in September 1997 Administered at the state level by DWD and locally through 52 contracts with public and private providers

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Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program

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  1. Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program Legislative Audit Bureau April 2005

  2. Overview • Created to help participants achieve self-sufficiency through employment • Started statewide in September 1997 • Administered at the state level by DWD and locally through 52 contracts with public and private providers • Expenditures have totaled $1.5 billion through June 2004

  3. Participant Placements • Participants are assigned to either subsidized or unsubsidized placements • In June 2004: • almost 80 percent of the 15,539 participants were in Milwaukee County • 12,539 were in subsidized placements • Those in subsidized placements receive either $628 or $673 per month

  4. Changes in Caseload

  5. Custodial Parents of Infants • W-2 increasingly serves custodial parents of infants • From June 1998 to June 2004, new participants who were custodial parents of infants increased from 18.0 to 37.3 percent • Those who were never in another placement increased from 8.5 percent in 1998 to 49.8 percent in 2004

  6. Time Limits On Participation • There is a 60-month lifetime limit and 24-month limits for community service job and transitional placement categories • W-2 agencies can grant extensions • From April 1999 through June 2004, almost 72 percent of 1,660 requests for 60-month extensions were approved • Extension approval rates vary among W-2 agencies

  7. Program Performance • For the 9,958 participants who left the W-2 program in the last three months of each year from 1999 through 2002: • Approximately 20 percent earned more than the poverty level in the year after they left the program • 42.1 percent of those who left in 1999 were above the poverty level in 2003, when tax credits were included

  8. Employers of Former Participants

  9. Improving Program Management • Approximately one-fifth of community service job participants were assigned to no work in June 2004 • Through June 2004, $1.3 million in excess payments were made to parents of infants • W-2 agencies issued $1.9 million in other excess payments • Only 43.5 percent of participants were screened for barriers to employment

  10. Variation in Services and Sanctions • During 2002-2003, average monthly per participant expenditures ranged from $310 by UMOS to $731 by Racine County • During the first six months of 2004: • 7 agencies sanctioned more than 20 percent of their participants; and • 25 agencies sanctioned less than 10 percent of their participants

  11. Future Considerations • Factors affecting future program success will likely include: • ensuring the amount and type of services provided by W-2 agencies are more consistent; • improving the accuracy of cash benefit payments; • better serving the needs of returning participants; • ensuring participants are actively engaged in work activities; and • addressing issues unique to Milwaukee County

  12. Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program Legislative Audit Bureau April 2005

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